We are mired in the current year budget process still, but soon the President will release the budget proposal for FY 2019. As such, the ALA Washington Office is preparing its campaign in case we see an attempt to cut federal library funding. While the campaign is still in the early stages and the FY 2019 proposal has not been received, the ALA Washington Office held a conference call today for state chapter councilors and leaders on the general timeline and provided a few resources. The shutdown has pushed back the cycle, but the budget should be coming in the next couple of weeks. In March, ALA will send out its Dear Appropriator letters to representatives and Senators and the long process of outreach will begin. You can do the following in the meantime:

Start the process of inviting your representatives/senators to visit your library and show off your resources and services.

Start collecting stories that demonstrate impact of library services based on concrete examples in your state. The #fundlibraries website will have a form for submitting stories, but go ahead and beginning gathering them now.

Once the budget proposal is released and the campaign begins, you can contact you reps. The #fundlibraries website. will have real time information on whether they have signed the Dear Appropriator letters (example below). Please hold off on this step until the budget has been released and the campaign has begun.

The ALA Washington Office will give regular updates, especially once the budget proposal is available, but we can/should start the legwork to get ready!

Please share the blog post and action alert with your colleagues. We will continue our analysis and planning for how to best inform and engage ALA members as this issue continues to play out. The FCC vote is scheduled for December 14, so we are considering options for activities leading up to and during that day. Be assured we are watching this issue closely.

In case it comes up in any of your units, roundtables, or divisions— ALA has two net neutrality resolutions from 2006 and 2014. The first is a resolution affirming network neutrality and the second is a resolution reaffirming support.

Resolution endorsed by ALA Council on June 28, 2006. Council Document 20.12 (CD#20.12):

If you are new to the idea of net neutrality, the most accessible overview is John Oliver’s slightly NSFW video from Last Week Tonight. It is also decidedly NSFI (not safe for instruction). I’ll find additional resources and post here. Please let me know if you have other resources that are particularly good.

Finally, I am the incoming ALA Councilor for North Carolina. Our orientation isn’t until February, but they have put us on the lists for Council. So, I will post information here and on social media if it seems critical. Let me know if you have questions or concerns so that I can better represent NC at Council!

Municipal primary elections have unfortunately low turnout. The last in 2015 had 7,000 voters, around 3% of the registered voters, out of a population of 280,000. Considering that these are the elections that matter most for your everyday life, such a low turnout is depressing. While finding information about the candidates can be difficult, there are several places to begin looking, including in-person events around the city. For example, Democracy Greensboro hosted a lively and well-attended forum this afternoon. I appreciate the great job the organizers did (shout out especially to Susan Farr) and the solid candidate turn out. While the forum was focused on Democracy GSO’s platform and all candidates were asked to address the platform, the event was open to the public and it was quite enlightening.

I usually get two or three questions about who I support in these elections, so instead of answering at the last minute, here are some guides for candidates as well as my impression from the forum. Make sure to check out News & Record’s candidate information and the Greensboro 2017 Voter Guide for answers to specific questions. My library guide also has links to information about registering to vote, early elections, and more.

Mayor

Only two candidates came for mayor, Diane Moffett and Billy Jones, a write-in candidate. Moffett had interesting things to say and you could certainly see her pastor training in her remarks. Billy Jones started his campaign late and has a long way to catch up but I appreciate his passion for transparency.

My pick: I am voting for Nancy Vaughan in the general election. In my opinion, Vaughan has been a strong leader for Greensboro and I will continue to support her. If she wins, it will be her third and last term. I will probably vote for Moffett in the primary to ensure that Nancy has a good race. The other person in the race, John Brown, is completely opposite most of my beliefs and his only experience listed is working with Carolina Poodle rescue.

At-Large Candidates (vote for three)

Marikay Abuzuaiter (incumbent) – She was elected 2011 to an At-Large position. In response to the DG platform, she highlighted her work with the Family Justice Center and her work with GSO’s immigrant population, such as having all public safety brochures translated. While she supported some DG planks, she argued that some needed to be discussed. She was asked why there was a raise for the GSO police department and answered that the raise went to the fire and police departments and reflected the need to bring their salaries up to state and national levels.

Irving David Allen – He agrees 100% with the DG platform. He has been a community organizer, especially focused on ex-offender reintegration. He would focus on investing in communities of color. He would work to distribute resources to other parts of city beyond downtown, such as ensuring access to library resources.

T. Dianne Bellamy-Small – She mentioned that the Greensboro City Council is somewhat limited in what it can do because of the lack of home rule. She referred to her past record on city council including fighting to keep the White Street Landfill closed. She was asked how she would hold GSO police accountable, and she said that the city needs more training on diffusing situations.

Jodi Bennett-Bradshaw – GSO has a cultural and racial divide that needs to be fixed. Her experience is in public health education. I honestly didn’t get a sense of her platform or what her experience might be from this forum.

Tijuana B. Hayes – She is retired school teacher who decided to become more active in city politics. She agrees with the DG platform, especially improved public transportation and community gardens. She was asked how she would ensure that education resources are more equitably distributed. She (correctly) noted that the city doesn’t have control over that distribution (it is mainly a county issue). She maintained that she would work on improving library access in various neighborhoods.

Sylvine Hill – She is a UNCG alumna. She focused on the need for change in eastern Greensboro and more transparency. She was asked if she would be willing to urge the council to challenge the state General Assembly. She said she recognized that the city can’t do some things, but she would work to put pressure on the state.

Yvonne J. Johnson (incumbent) – She has fought for $15 for city workers but not quite there yet. The city council has seen incremental increases if not all the demands. She supports the Renaissance Coop and has worked to eliminate food deserts. She is willing to build relationships. She started first Community Sustainability Council. She noted that federal and state laws prohibited action on some of the DG planks.

Michelle Kennedy – She is a GSO native and a community organizer. The DG platform is completely in line with her beliefs and her work as a homeless rights organizer. She argued for equitable development as opposed to economic development. She has experience on the Human Rights Commission. She was asked how she would create incentives to keep development local. She argued that there are current incentives for everywhere except east GSO and that we need development across the entire city. We also need a strategic plan for entire city.

Andy Nelson – He is a self-declared moderate with libertarian tendencies. From the platform, he supports small business and expanded bus routes. He supports housing codes and renovation of vacant buildings for the homeless. He also supports a demilitarized police department. Some planks he did not know as much about.

Lindy Perry-Garnette – She is the CEO of the GSO YWCA. She supports the DG platform completely. She supports economic justice primary before all the other sections. She was asked how she would deal with the state legislature and what her strategy would be for financing economic justice initiatives. She answered that not everything required money (for example, enforcing housing codes) and that we need to know when to give in and build relationships and when to hold fast.

Dave Wils – He is a teacher at Grimsley. In his job, he works hard to ensure that no students are marginalized, and would do the same for GSO residents. His focus is on small business, affordable housing, and food security. He has experience on the GSO Human Relations Commission and experience working with the city council. He was asked how he would help reintegration of ex-offenders in the city. He answered that he values second chances. He would focus on providing affordable housing, promote re-enfranchisement at state level, and increase resources for job training.

My picks: Dave Wils is a great candidate with a strong platform who has proven experience with city governance. I committed to his campaign a few weeks ago for three reasons: 1) He has priorities within a moderately progressive agenda, rather than trying to correct all ills at one time. He recognizes that the city council has limitations and is willing to work within those limitations; 2) He has a chance to push out an incumbent; and 3) He is the only candidate who has ever stopped by my house in-person and introduced himself. And the poor guy stopped by on the hottest day of year. I realize that not every candidate can be at everyone’s house in this large city. Nevertheless, I appreciate that he showed up in our little boring, apathetic neighborhood with historically low turnout. I’ve only ever received paper from my own district councilperson (see below).

For my other two choices I am still deciding, but I am probably going with non-incumbents, even though I really have a soft spot for Yvonne Johnson. I would like to see some new names on the general election ballot. Of the non-incumbents, Michelle Kennedy was quite articulate and I appreciate her comments on city development. Lindy Perry-Garnette gave nuanced answers about dealing with the NCGA. Finally, Irving David Allen has good energy and would bring a younger perspective to the council. I think she might need more experience, but Tijuana B. Hayes could be someone to look for in the future.

Nancy Hoffmann (incumbent) – She was quite critical of the DG platform, arguing that it was misleading and not match GSO needs. She maintained that out of the 31 points, the city had already addressed 24 points (but did not say which points). Moreover, the city has had three progressive city councils that have worked hard to ensure progress. Her focus is primarily economic development.

Gary Kenton – He is a former professor who has worked with closely with DG and helped to develop the platform. His focus is on tackling issues of poverty, race, and jobs. Foremost, he maintained that we need transparency in the city council. When asked which parts of the DG platform are most important, he said that his focus has been on environmental issues, arguing for a more active Community Sustainability Council and that a strong environment will create a strong economy. Moreover, he maintained that while the council is progressive, it is not progressive enough.

Moreover, her primary focus is downtown Greensboro’s business development and she did not mention anything about environmental or transportation issues, two that are very important for me. She talks about recycling issues in some of her written Q&As, but recycling is hardly a difficult topic. It should just be a given that this city recycles. Plus, Hoffman has been in office for three terms (6 years), so why not give someone new a chance?

You can also read the Triad City Beat report on the Demo GSO Forum, although he apparently undercounted the numbers. There were actually over 200 according to my insider. 😉

I’m having a great conference at IFLA. I’ve met people from all over the world, including Croatia, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Africa, Nigeria, Germany, Norway, the UK, as well as our large US contingent. I’ve really enjoyed learning about the variety of projects people are working on from library support for refugees to reading habits of Iranian students to a new VR initiative at the Bergen public library. You can see the variety of topics from a selection of posters.

Today I had my first meeting with the Standing Committee for the Social Science Libraries section. The structure of IFLA is a bit convoluted, but I am slowly learning. Basically, my Standing Committee does great projects like tomorrow’s workshop on using ethnography in the library and more. Looking forward to sharing their work when I am officially a member of the committee after this conference.

Spencer Acadia and I also represented IASSIST at our poster session. We were able to talk to a few people and our poster will stay up all through the conference. We are still looking to build up our membership in South America and Africa!

Finally, I’ve been trying to get to know Wrocław again. The city has changed quite a bit and is much more vibrant now. It has developed a student-oriented character that wasn’t quite here in 1995.

Several times in my walks around town a place suddenly seemed familiar and I could see it again through my memories. The picture below is of a lovely square and roundabout called Plac Kościuszki near my hotel and the train station. I walked by it a few times before I remembered this evening that it was the place I used to go for coffee almost once a week. I think a post office was also on the corner. But it seems to be gone now.

Tonight I was also able to do a food tour of the city. When I was here last, I was a student and I couldn’t afford to eat out much. We cooked a lot of pierogi that semester. On the tour, one of the restaurants had a room decorated like a Polish living room during the Communist period. In one corner was a shrine to Solidarność, the trade union and opposition group, and its members from Wrocław.

So, just a few of the things going on. Tomorrow I have an all day workshop and will post notes as possible. It has been a blast sharing and learning with everyone at IFLA. Although I am new to the organization and only know a few people, everybody has been friendly and welcoming.

And I will close out with a picture of the translation booth and the IFLA President on the stage. I’ve never seen a translation booth in action, so quite a fun moment for me!

Tonight I am heading out for the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Wroclaw, Poland. The city is special for me because I studied abroad there in 1995. In preparing the trip, I noticed that the congress meetings are being held at the Hala Stulecia. I was quite confused at first because I didn’t remember anything with that name. Finally it hit me — they had renamed the large meeting exhibition hall in the east of the city. The building I knew had been called Hala Ludowa, the People’s Hall, but that wasn’t its original name. Designed by German architect Max Berg as a commemoration of 1813 victory against Napoleon, it opened in 1913 as Jahrhunderthalle, or Centennial Hall. Since the mid-18th century, Wroclaw, named Breslau, had been a part of the Prussian Empire and then the German Empire. After World War II, the city and region became part of Poland and the majority German population were expelled, fled, or resettled in Soviet-occupied Germany. After the fall of Communism, the hall remained Hala Ludowa until the mid-2000s when it was renamed Hala Stulecia, the Polish translation of Centennial Hall. In 2006, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. For my historians and archivists, here are some great historical photos.

With the debates surrounding our own monuments, it might be helpful to look at this issue from another perspective. Wroclaw and all of Poland have had a difficult history to contend with many times over, and we all know the history of Poland’s emergence and demise and reemergence (hopefully). In addition to dealing with political changes, Poland has contended with powerful symbolic politics during its history. Hala Stulecia is great example of that attempt to confront the past through shifting memorialization.

In particular, the hall when built had a large Iron Cross built inside its dome. During the Communist period, the Iron Cross was covered with large piece of fabric. When I was there, the story was that the Cross had been built into the dome and was part of its support structure (I don’t know if this is true). The Communist authorities couldn’t remove the Cross without damaging the dome so they used the sheet. That sheet was still there in 1995. Looking at more recent pictures the sheet is gone and it appears that the Iron Cross has been removed. I can’t find a good photo that confirms that it is still there or not.

While I am certain that there are some residents who would lament the loss of this specific memorialization, removing symbols does not equate a loss of the past. Removing the Iron Cross or changing the hall’s name is a recognition that the society has changed and that the symbol no longer resonates or that it resonates in a new way in the present day. Names can change without causing harm and memorials can be rebuilt or brought down without forgetting a past. In the United States, we will always have the scars of slavery and the Civil War imprinted in our books, told in our classrooms, and reverberating in our society. We don’t need the monumental reminders that the Jim Crow era tried to re-establish a racial order many years after slavery ended. Similarly, Wroclaw doesn’t need to hide its past or keep in a public hall a symbol that was later adopted by a regime that killed millions.

I look forward to seeing Hala Stulecia again with new eyes and its new name. I hope that the Iron Cross is in the Wroclaw museum, where it belongs, and I hope IFLA attendees visit the museum to learn more about Wroclaw’s past. Because people have been asking me about this trip, I will try to blog regularly and post pictures. I am new to IFLA, but I am excited to be a part of this international community of librarians.